Crying over spilt blood
by Kiwi the Lemon
Summary: Ishimaru was oblivious, kind hearted and everything your average student should be... until he found the truth of hopes peak academy, and snapped. Ishida and Kyouko Kirigiri find a device that can take them back in time! Will they be able to stop the horrifying events of the Killing school life from happening? Main ship is Ishidagiri (Major work in progress) (Art by Ministarfruit)
1. Prologue

"My, my!" A voice echoed through the darkness "How on _**EARTH**_ did you find yourself here again?"

"I… I tried"

"You tried?" The voice laughed, it had such a cruel air about it, and a spiteful chuckle escaped from the persons lips.

It was almost like a dream, a sick fantasy. But the best part was that it really wasn't.

"I will… I will get them out…" The softer voice called out, muffled by a bloody sleeve covering his mouth.

 _And suddenly,_

 _The lights flicked on._


	2. Chapter 1

"A...a time machine?" The emotionless boy asked, his eyes dark and empty, and his hands shaking impulsively.

Monokuma laughed

"I was only joking!" Monkuma placed his soft black paw on his face and giggled cheerfully, gesturing towards the strange piece of machinery in front of the students.

The boy clenched his fists, and his face grew pale before he stormed out of the lab, clearly flustered.

The strange boy was no other than Kiyotaka Ishimaru: _**The Ultimate Moral Compass**. _ He was a paradigm of truth, intelligence and caring... but such things had caused his downfall. He was considered odd and uptight by the majority of his fellow students, yet none particularly detested him. He was just who he was, nothing more nothing less.

Ishimaru sat down at the dining table in the hall, and placed his cold face into his hands.

"He- he's gone." He muttered

"Mondo... _ **brother**_..."

He had thought that he could prevent murderous intent from rising up in any of the students by supporting everyone... but he had already failed twice. He would have never expected his own friend t-

No, he didn't want to think about it. All he knew was that... that...

"It's... _**It's all my fault!**_ "

Ishimaru began to feel his eyes welling up with red hot tears, but rubbed furiously at them, making his crimson eyes bloodshot and dazed. It just had to be his fault, after all, his only purpose was to protect the students and promote success... if he couldn't even protect his friends... _Mondo, Chihiro..._ Then was use was he? Once again he began to growl as tears attempted to escape from his strained eyes, Ishimaru pulled himself back, clawing at his eyes with reckless abandonment.

If he couldn't even do that...

He didn't have the right to call himself human.

He was trash, hopeless, he didn't have the right to cry... to relieve his worries and upset by sobbing. To Ishimaru, that was normal for someone like him, and he really believed he was useless and pitiful. Although he didn't want others to feel sorry for him, that would be of no interest to him. It would merely reinforce his belief that he was pathetic and couldn't stand on his own in the world, and he was sure nobody would pay him any mind anyway.

"Useless!" Ishimaru continued to scratch at his eyes, relishing the pain as inevitable punishment.

"Trash!" He pressed harder.

"STOP IT!" He shouted at his streaming eyes

 ** _"I'M HOPELESS!"_**

Ishimaru coughed lightly as he tried not to scream in pain. He lifted his quivering hand up to his left eye and touched it carefully, despite knowing how it would feel.

He glanced down at his hand and clenched his teeth at the sight of thick, red blood.

Again, he began to trail his hand across his face, and feeling that he was bleeding profusely, stood up and ventured to the bathroom. It was so, so quiet in the school, which was strange. Ishimaru was used to students making loud conversation in the hallways, commenting sourly on his strange composition, not to mention all the running... but today, it was almost suspiciously silent. Despite the distinct absence of students, Ishimaru felt the stares of people burning into him, if felt as if someone were driving a sharp rusty needle into his chest and twisting it around, laughing at him... at everyone.

He glanced upwards and saw he was walking near a few security cameras.

He concluded the feeling was probably because of these... but if that was the case, why did he feel so sick inside... like the entire world was watching him, staring at his pathetic mistakes, laughing at Ishimaru's despair with a gleeful disposition. Nothing felt right... but maybe that was because nothing _was_ right, and nothing ever would be right again.


	3. Chapter 2

Upon reaching the bathroom, Ishimaru leaned across the sink and looked into the mirror.

He gasped deeply as he stared at his left eye, yet he was not surprised. It was bright red with blood, and his pupil had grown small and twitched in various directions. It was no longer functional, by any means, but Ishimaru could feel his pupil twitching restlessly as he scoped it out in the mirror.

"Hey"

Ishimaru turned around to see a girl known as Kyouko Kirigiri. She sported beautiful long lilac hair with a fringe and a mysterious character, one that Ishimaru dared not to get involved with. But why on earth was she in the _boys_ bathroom?

"K-kirigiri! What are you doing here? I must ask you to leave this place immediately, as president of the disciplinary commit-" he cut off mid statement

"Why didn't you finish?" She enquired

"I-"

"I know. You don't believe you deserve that authority anymore." Kirigiri said calmly, as if toying with him.

"Why are you here anyway?" Ishimaru mumbled, trying not to look her in the eye, as if she were a dangerous animal.

"Because I saw you coming in here... also a few drips of blood on the floor." She answered, simply, her eyes fixed on Ishimaru in a heated gaze.

Ishimaru faced the mirror once more, and Kirigiri slowly walked over to it.

"Bit of a masochist, are we?" She said, almost smiling.

"N-no! I just-"

"I know. I saw the whole thing." Kirigiri replied seriously, a direct contrast to her previous tone.

She stared at his eye in the mirror from behind Ishimaru with not the slightest bit of hesitation at seeing the state of it. It was unusual, Ishimaru suddenly felt calm in a way he had never felt before. Perhaps he was going insane... or perhaps he was coming to his senses. Such things were hard to determine, especially since poor judgement had been commonplace in he recent days, causing the death of five of his classmates. Although Ishimaru wanted to pin it all on himself, and not others. It wasn't anyone's fault... but if that was the case why did he feel such gripping guilt built up inside him?

His legs began to tremble unstoppably.

"They're all going to ask you what happened. You know that, right?" Kirigiri sighed, and tugged at her studded gloves thoughtfully. Receiving no reply, she walked towards the door. "By the way... This is the girls bathroom."

Ishimaru blushed and placed his hand over his mouth in embarrassment.

"M- My deepest apologies!" He stuttered, bowing enthusiastically and clamping his eyes shut.

But when he looked up again, the girl had already disappeared into the halls.


	4. Chapter 3

"W-wait!" A startled Ishimaru yelled as he quickly speedwalked out into the hallway, trying not to show his embarrassment. How could he have missed the sign on the door?

Kirigiri was nowhere to be seen, the same for the other students. "Where did th-"

Ishimaru was cut off by the sound of a door inching open, creaking as if it had been used thoroughly. He looked to his left with his one working eye, trying not to let the pain make him wince, and saw a door he had never seen open before. Before then Ishimaru had simply presumed it let to an off-limits area, and being a model student did not venture to open it... until now.

The poor broken boy took a deep breath before slowly walking up to the door that had opened so noisily, and stared into the room before him, careful not to let anyone see him doing so. He would have liked nothing more than to uphold his clean reputation, yet for some reason, the room seemed to pull him in, as if enticing him to come closer, to see what secrets lay inside. Although he knew such things were impossible.

All he could see was an empty darkness, not a clue, no people and absolutely nothing of use to him, after all, what use was darkness?

Ishimaru stepped cautiously closer and poked his head through the door to double check, proceeding in him tripping and falling into the ominous room with a _**Thud**. _

_***Click***_

Ishimaru opened his ruby eyes and immodestly closed them again. The whole room was suddenly lit up with a fantastically bright red glow, one that was as unsettling as it was distasteful. "What is this place?" Ishimaru coughed as he stood up, clutching his pulsating left eye. His question was soon answered by a machine starting up just in front of him, and speaking three fateful words as clear as day.

 **"It's punishment time!"**

Those words struck Ishimaru like a blade, sliced through his core, penetrated his soul with cruel indifference. They were the words that killed Leon... and the words that killed his brother.

"Why?!"

They were more than just words to Ishimaru, they were things that pulled the painful memories of Mondo out of him and smashed him over the head with them repeatedly, things that he had hoped he would never have to endure again... he didn't know how he would be able to endure it all. In fact... he couldn't even endure it now.

Ishimaru's bloodshot eyes opened wide as he grasped at his neck, choking and spluttering, tears running down his cheeks and splattering the floor with a mixture of water and diluted blood. And at that moment, he opened his mouth and screamed as loud as his lungs would allow, crimson flames bursting from his eyes in a sudden spout.

He heard footsteps. They were coming closer and closer to the room. Closer and closer and-

Ishimaru briskly ran over to the door, and pushed it shut with all his might.

He couldn't let the others see this. it would surely drive them to madness, to catch even a glimpse of what he had so unfortunately discovered. It was something most vile, something that made his heart pound in his chest and his face turn into a deathly white.

What he saw was simple, yet sickening.

Behind a thick sheet of glass before him was strange equipment that was all too familiar.

A baseball dispenser. A stunt cage.

but there was more as well, weapons and objects that Ishimaru was sure he had seen before, yet he was sure he had never seen them in his life. The floor was stained with blood, the walls hung with portraits of someone clutching a monokuma doll, someone that he recognised extremely well.

It was none other than himself.

What was this strange feeling he was experiencing? It could not be described as anything more than seething pain, torture...

 _Despair. Sweet Despair._


	5. Chapter 4

The latch clicked shut and the footsteps grew less frantic and sounded as if whoever was coming towards the door had slowed their pace to a leisurely stroll.

Ishimaru stepped away from the door and stepped towards the curious portrait, his legs trembling with fear. He ran his hand over the cold metal plate underneath the portrait and gasped as he read the caption engraved onto it.

"So..."

"So I'm the..."

 _ ***CRASH***_

The door swung open violently, and a tall figure burst through and stopped in the doorway, their shadow casting itself over the room.

"So... you saw it too, huh?" The lilac haired investigator spoke with a serious tone, one that sent an uncomfortable shiver down Ishimaru's spine.

"..."

The lights flickered off and before Ishimaru knew it Kirigiri was standing behind him, holding a knife to his throat tightly, ready to strike. **_"What do you know?"_**

"I-... just kill me." The flames around Ishimaru's eyes died, as his left pupil began to dart in all directions

"You idiot." Kirigiri threw the knife to the ground, and stared at the portrait with a blank expression.

"So..."

"Is this what _**True Despair**_ feels like?" Ishimaru screamed, "Killing your friends... deceiving the innocent hardworking students of hopes peak academy... scratching your own eye until its red and raw...? There's a high probability!" tears soaked his sleeves once more as he turned to Kirigiri, his head pounding and hands shaking.

"Is this what it feels like... to be the _**Mastermind**_?"


	6. Chapter 5

Ishimaru's head pounded as he fell to the ground with a thud.

"What's going on here? We heard a-" A voice began to sound itself by the doorway but cut off mid-statement in obvious horror.

Kirigiri cleared her throat and stepped towards her dear friend Naegi Makoto, the owner of the voice. A tear streamed down her ivory cheeks as she stared deep into his eyes, he stared back in innocent confusion. He could never know how much Kirigiri wanted to tell him the truth… who the mastermind was… what they had to do next… but the words would not escape her lips no matter how hard she tried. She had too many questions she couldn't give others the answers to yet… she had to ask them before she continued.

But it was too late.

They knew. Perhaps if she could just turn back time… just a little… this wouldn't have to happen… he wouldn't have gotten in the way.

There was only one way to solve this problem of unanswered questions and unquestioned answers…and Kirigiri knew that very well.

"I…I'm sorry"

Ishimaru looked up at Kirigiri, his remaining eye swirling with madness and cheeks flushed, hands wet with tears. Naegi's face grew cold as he fell backwards.

Kirigiri's breathing grew heavy as she tried to turn away from the knife that stuck out from her friend's ribcage.

"What…what have I done?" She muttered, sweat dripping from her skin and her face turning white. She was a murderer of the most common kind, denying what she had done, providing justification for her actions as if before a live audience, like she had something to prove.

"You can't trust anyone around here… can you?" Ishimaru spoke in a strange tone that sent a shiver down Kirigiri's spine. She felt sick to her stomach, as if infected with some illness she could not cure.

Kirigiri turned to the mastermind with lightning in her eyes. "No….no you can't."

"This is all my fault" he hummed quietly, almost cheerfully, staring at the wall behind Kirigiri, as if trying to focus. "Why haven't you killed me yet?" he continued in monotone, looking at the ceiling with childish wonder.

"I need answers… I hate to say this but I feel you will be a powerful resource for the reconstruction of the world … you are the greatest clue I have come across yet…If I want to solve this puzzle I have to make sacrifices. If he found out…he would have told the others…"

"And this would be a problem? Also reconstructing the world? What do you-" Ishimaru stood up as if he was coming to his senses. "I think… I think I remember…"

Ishimaru began to cry so hard he felt his insides wanting to spill themselves at every time he breathed in. "I don't know who's running all this now…if it's not me causing the class trials then you're going to d-! I feel like I'm losing my mind!" He screamed, his mind buzzing with ideas and not knowing what to do with them.

"I know. I'm going to die. There's no avoiding this…if I kill the rest of them…I'll be executed for breaking the rules…and if I don't…"

Ishimaru began to laugh… it came quite suddenly and at full volume…it was almost fake sounding.

His hair was stripped of its black colour in a heartbeat, and Ishimaru's pained face turned to joyful, dripping with sweat and eyes flaming. He coughed and spluttered, blood pouring from his mouth as he began to wave to Kirigiri sweetly.

"Hey!" The boy wretched as blood ran down his neck. His teeth suddenly appearing to be sharpened into points.

Kirigiri stared into his deep red eye as the mystery boy clutched his other with sudden realisation of the sharp pain. "Who…what happened to you, Ishimaru?"

"I'm ME! Don't compare me to that psycho!" He suddenly turned angry upon the mention of Ishimaru, and looked away from Kirigiri's gaze, as if ashamed.

There was no denying it…this person certainly wasn't Ishimaru…yet he was certainly in Ishimaru's body…

"Who are you?" Kirigiri enquired, squinting suspiciously at him and the awful amount of blood that was now pooled on the floor.

"Hmm…well I'm not that sure myself to be honest with you. Hey I know! You could call me something cool… how about calling me Ishida? He never really called me anything… those psychologists called me something… can't quite remember it though." He chuckled, then repeating his name a few times over in loud appreciation of its apparent "coolness".

This guy was really something… something more than what he seemed.

He was oddly pleasant, or rather he would be if he wasn't so obnoxiously loud…he spoke as if attempting to scream every word.

Something wasn't quite right.


	7. Chapter 6

"What's your name?" The boy who called himself "Ishida" yelled across the room, showing off his pointy shark-like teeth proudly. He seemed strangely casual in this environment, placing one of his hands on his hips and leaning to one side. Ishida was even indifferent to the fact he was bleeding from his eyes and coughing up a rather worrying amount of blood every minute.

Kirigiri swallowed hard. She could call for the others...but they could end up like... like **_Him_**.

She tried not to make eye contact with Ishida, keeping in mind that if that rule worked with animals, it would probably work with him. If it _didn't_ however...

"It's none of your business. I do not divulge such information to suspicious individuals." She remained still, focusing on a spot behind Ishida and trying not to show her nervousness to him, speaking in a forced calm tone. She felt as though she was frozen to the floor, sweat dribbling down her face and pooling at the base of her neck, as if an inconsistent stream running into a small pond.

Ishida made a sound that was something like a chuckle and a low growl mixed together, and frowned, glaring at a place on the high ceiling. He seemed to not be making eye contact with Kirigiri either, or was at least trying not to, occasionally allowing his eye to dart in her direction before pulling them back upwards. "Hmm I think I can remember... Ah I think..." He grumbled, seeming put off by Kirigiri's rude reply.

"Remember...? But you-" The violet eyed detective was cut off by the sound of the door swinging open again, this time with a crude _**BANG**_.

"Ishimaru?!" The voice of Aoi Asahina came from the door way and she rushed towards Ishida with a concerned expression, her eyes lined with shocked tears.

She quickly grabbed hold of Ishida's arm and placed her other hand on his cheek softly, trying to get a good look at his ferocious injuries without gagging. "W-what happened to y-you?" She whimpered, gritting her teeth and looking into the white haired boy's eyes with an intense gaze. Kirigiri had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she threw her arms around herself and concentrated on not being sick from the pressure. She could feel her throat burning with hot liquid and her heart shaking her body with an iron grip.

Ishida cleared his throat and looked into Aoi's eyes in a strangely affectionate way, before whispering in a sinister tone.

"Hey, little miss confidential! I'm sure you were thinkin', 'we can't possibly bump off all these guys at once, its against the rules'."

Kirgiri felt herself shiver uncontrollably, and her pupils shrank a considerable amount. He was right... but how?

Ishida continued, trying to contain an unsettling smile. "Well..."

And that's when it happened. Kirigiri's stomach overflowed, allowing vomit to spill from her mouth.

Ishida quickly closed his teeth round Aoi's neck, biting down hard with a sickening _**crunching**_ noice and rolling his eyes as he felt Aoi's tears drip onto his face. He adopted a disgusted expression as he released Aoi's body from his grasp, spitting out the blood on his tongue.

"Well, if I can make the rules, I don't have to worry about breakin' em." Ishida made the same growl-laugh noise and coughed as he traced his fingers on the insides of his cheeks, flicking drops of blood off his fingertips by turning his wrists around, as if they were meat roasting on a spit.

Aoi's face looked disturbed, there was pain in her eyes, and Kirigiri could see it clearly. Normally Kirigiri would be able to look at a dead body without flinching... but this felt different...

The sudden crunch noise that emitted from Aoi's neck as Ishida bit down on her...Kirigiri felt it reminded her of how a fox kills a chicken. It felt like Ishida saw this practise as a chore, something he had to do rather than something he chose to do on his own.

"Ack, I would've liked to _not_ use my teeth, but eh. Wait isn't there like a fetish for this kinda' thing..." Ishida continued to spit out blood, his lips trembling as he giggled, as if he was laughing at his own joke.

Kirigiri thought this was his way of answering her question, understanding despite his brutality... that perhaps it was for the best at this stage.


	8. Chapter 7

"Ay, just tell me your name or everything will be really freakin' awkward!" Ishida snarled, clenching his fists beside his hips.

Kirigiri thought it was best not to mess with the boy that had so fiercely murdered Aoi... with his own teeth no less.

"Kyouko Kirigiri." She spoke sternly, staring down at the mess she had made on the floor with a disappointed gaze. Oh well, it wasn't like it was a big deal...not in this place anyway.

Ishida grinned at her, and then proceeded to growl, placing a hand on his bleeding eye.

"D'you mind telling me what he did to this?"

Kirigiri narrowed her eyes and scowled at him.

"So you can't remember...?" She muttered, stepping a little closer to Aoi's dead body, cautiously processing the information in front of her.

"Nah, well it's not that simple. I can usually tell what he's doing, but this time _He_ got in total control! I'm a little fuzzy on a lot of details...but I suppose that's how it goes when you erase your 'host body' 's memories. You forget a few of the details, you know?"

So he couldn't remember everything...? Then killing Naegi...

"You're telling me he didn't make a difference?!" Kirigiri was on the verge of tears, she looked straight up at Ishida, her teeth gritted together to prevent her mouth from spouting out all her thoughts.

Ishida looked genuinely offended.

"Hey, don't act like I'm just an information bank! Besides it's not like I can't remember ANYTHING! I can actually remember something kind of...useful!" His flames grew more intense around his blood-red eyes. Ishida began to flap his arms frantically in annoyance.

"Useful?" Kirigiri questioned, trying to compose herself.

Ishida suddenly looked a little more satisfied.

"Yeah, useful! Just...Hey! It's 10PM... you have to get to your dorm!" He began to grow stern, as his previous personality had done so frequently, pressing his fingers to his watch so forcibly that Kirigiri was surprised that he didn't break the glass.

Kirigiri felt as though her answers were right in front of her, just waiting to be grasped with both of her black gloves...but she couldn't quite reach them yet. She had to keep pushing the ladder until the answers could be safely carried down...without any complications.

"You said before, you can break the rules you make, isn't that right? So tell me what you mean by useful." It was a gamble but...

Ishida continued to tap his watch, the occasional few drops of blood flowing from his mouth and making a peaceful dripping noise, like a drain pipe the day after it had been raining. It was almost hypnotic, and caused Kirigiri to feel slightly dizzy...all of this had been too much... but if she could just keep her consciousness.

"Hey, I _didn't_ make this rule! It was wannabe rich girl! I'll tell you all the useful crap at 7am in the dining hall, I can't break rules I don't make..." He seemed to be growing impatient, now with his arms crossed and his burning eyes closed, trapping the roaring flames inside his eyelids. Ishida seemed to have the same obsession with following the rules as Ishimaru did, but Kirigiri dared not mention that to him.

Kirigiri still felt uneasy, trying to decide whether to go back to her dorm or to desperately try and wring more answers out of him. She shuffled her feet for a minute or two, clearing her throat every now and again.

"I know what you're thinking, what about the rest of em? Well, _he_ may have made up the trial rules but _I'm_ the one who said no more than two people can be killed by a single mastermind!" Ishida let out a strangely pleasant laugh, it was gleeful...which was unsettling when Kirigiri considered who it was coming from.

He continued " So while you're sleepin' I'll take care of em for ya. Don't blame me if I have a little fun with it though, after all, I know where _**ALL**_ the best weapons are in the whole school!" Ishida appeared to be blushing and was breathing irregularly from the sheer excitement of this task, chuckling when he caught his breath.

He wasn't going to give her the answers... the only thing Kirigiri could do at this point was to go back to her dorm...she couldn't trust the others...and she _knew_ she couldn't trust this guy either...she barely even knew who he was...

All Kirgiri did was nod in agreement, desperately trying not to stare too much at Aoi's body, the neck pouring with thick rosy blood, and her pained expression.

Ishida began to walk towards her and looked perplexed when he saw her back away.

"There's only one exit here, it's not like I can just go through the other door!" He sighed, seeming annoyed at Kirigiri's reluctance to let him walk beside her.

They walked up to the door in an awkward silence, before they reached the entrance to the corridor.

"Just...make their deaths..." Kirigiri mumbled, looking down the hallway.

"Eh? What was that, sweetie?" Ishida replied, casually placing his elbow on her shoulder.

"Don't make their deaths too painful."

Ishida smiled as she speeded away, shouting playfully after her.

"I'm not makin' any promises!"


	9. Chapter 8

Kirigiri closed the door and locked it, her head spinning with thoughts she didn't know how to deal with...

" _You killed_ _ **Him**_ _"_

 _"You were meant to kill the mastermind"_

 _"You don't deserve to_ _ **live**_ _"_

 ** _"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT."_**

She sunk, dazed and conflicted, to the floor with her back pressed hard on the lock behind her. Gasping as if someone had their hands wrapped round her neck, and was squeezing the life out of her. The odd white haired boy... the one who called himself Ishida...the one who murdered Aoi...who was he? Thoughts of questions she had intermingled with her intense self loathing as Kirigiri pulled herself up off the ground, reaching to place a chair in front of the door.

Groaning, she managed to achieve this.

Tiptoeing slowly over to her bed and climbing in, her eyes began to feel wet... at first she wasn't sure what the strange sensation was...the lump in her throat, the heat in her cheeks, the saliva building up in her mouth, her curiously dry lips...

Then she realised

she was crying.

Sadness was such a strange emotion to Kirigiri, as she felt it so uncommonly, it was more painful than she remembered...her eyes stinged like the had been pricked with a cactus, as if someone had poured a litre of salt water into them...she felt so uncomfortable with this unfamiliar emotion.

She felt exhausted, but wasn't so sure if sleeping was a good idea in her current situation. Kirigiri struggled to keep her dull purple eyes open, resulting to hitting her arm as hard as she could to keep herself awake.

As she pounded on her arm she concentrated on her skin's colour.

 _Pale_

 _grey_

 _black_

 _blue_

 _..._

 ** _red_**

Kirigiri pulled back her fist and stared at her arm in frustration.

She had drawn blood, and she had black and blue bruises all over her shaking arm...

Kirigiri sighed, and threw herself backwards onto the bed. It was no use...the pain was just making it worse...she would just have to...

she would have to trust **_Him_**.

Kirigiri closed her crying eyes and begged to whoever might have been listening...

 _That Ishida wasn't as bad as he seemed._


	10. Chapter 9

Ishida watched as he saw Kirigiri's door shake... she had obviously pushed something against it to stop him from coming in...

Luckily for Ishida, he had no need to kill her, that would make things a little pointless.

 ** _Stupid, even._**

The white haired boy shook his head, trying to stop thoughts from flooding into his mind... that was enough thinking for the minute, he had to get to work, as he had promised. Work was something _H_ _e_ seemed to value greatly, so Ishida always thought about _H_ _im_ when he did it, however awful his "work" actually was. His crimson eyes blinked in the darkness of the halls, glowing an eerie red and acting almost like built in torches.

He spat.

The taste of Aoi's blood was still on his lips, it was thick and warm on his tongue, with the taste of wet metal. It was slightly sickening, and Ishida allowed a string of saliva to drip from his mouth as he tried to dispose of it's disgustingly familiar flavour. Ironic considering he was often called "Bloodthirsty"... although he knew that was just an expression.

Ishida opened his mouth to spit again, before thrusting his hands into his pockets, and walking down to the other rooms and checking the doors.

His eye was twitching as he eyed the doors, jiggling the doorknobs, careful not to make too much noise.  
 ** _Rattle, rattle... click._**

Yup... one student had left their door unlocked... he looked up at the nameplate.

 _"Ishimaru Kiyotaka"_

Ishida sighed, kicking the door and growling. He didn't need to get into _**His**_ room! The tall boy groaned softly, before pushing his back against the door, honestly exhausted. "Ack... why'd I have to forget so friggin' much?" He sighed, pressing his hand to his pulsating eye again. He started to go back on what he had told himself previously, and put off work for the sake of thinking about the girl. She said her name had been Kyouko Kirigiri... it had a nice ring to it. Ishida chuckled slightly, reminding himself of her ruthless murder of her so called _friend_... it was another instance of beautiful irony.

He hurt more than he cared to admit... but considering the fact he had been vomiting blood he was feeling sick anyway... Ishida gritted his spiky teeth and held his breath, before pulling himself away from the door.

Strolling down the hallway again, he coughed quietly, reaching the Dining hall, and walking into the kitchen, the school still melanic.

He liked that word... "Melanic"... it was a suitably melancholy word to describe the kind of darkness he was seeing all around him.

Ishida shuffled around in the Kitchen, trying not to trip over anything and failing horribly, tripping over the side of a table and flopping over the counter, his face slamming onto the surface with a loud **_CRACK_**

He cringed a little, and looked up, hoping nobody heard that...

His eye had been pushed a little out of it's socket from the impact, so Ishida bit his lip, and pressed it back inwards with his index finger and thumb.

Before he knew it, his lip was bleeding, his teeth digging into it to distract from the ultrageous pain that pushing your own eyeball back into your head provided.

He banged his head on the counter again, reaching for a knife on the rack... that would do for now. "I suppose the first thing to do... is to kill muscles in 'er sleep..." he sighed, spitting out blood as he spoke.


	11. Chapter 10

Kirigiri opened her heavy eyelids, her beat-up arm throbbing.

She pulled up her arm and stared at her watch, facing the ceiling and still laying on the bed, sighing.

It was 6:30AM, and Kirigiri found she couldn't sleep any longer... she felt sick to her stomach, guilt gripping her in a vice, her heart slow and uneasy. The question now, was what could she do next? There was no question about the schools new visitor... he was dangerous. Very dangerous. But was Kirigiri willing to risk her life to obtain the information she needed? Or perhaps even get a chance to fix things?

Kirigiri rolled off the bed, not caring as she fell off and hit her head on the floor. She had managed to kill the only person who trusted her... and for the sake of the information she was considering risking her _**own**_ life for, no less.

She picked herself up off the floor and dusted off her skirt and jacket...

If _Naegi_ was worth less than information to her, then her own being should be relatively similar... it didn't matter to her if she died for the sake of it. This was important... very important.

Kirigiri cleared her throat... she felt her voice fading, but refused to give up... she would need her voice for interrogations.

She tried to raise her voice "IS ANYONE THERE?"

But, not at all to her surprise... she heard no voices, no footsteps... she was all...

all.

alone.

In her desperation she had forgotten that the rooms were soundproof...

She decided to try and peek out the door... to see if _he_ was still there... lurking. Kirigiri walked towards the door, striding boldly, as if wearing a mask of confidence. She grabbed hold of the chair she had in front of it and thrust it to the side. She pushed her hand to the door, and placed her other hand on the doorknob, turning it slowly.

 ** _C-click!_**

It opened, showing Ishida hadn't barricaded the door from the outside.

She was greeted by the sound of someone's feet on the hard floor, and looked either side of her.

The white haired killer could be seen wandering out of Celestia Ludenburg's room, rubbing his sweat covered hands down the sides of his pockets. He pulled his hands out, swallowing something Kirigiri couldn't make out, but presumed to be a pill. He threw his neck back as he swallowed hard, and coughed, gasping.

Kirigiri clenched her fists beside her, ready to punch him if needs be.

Ishida looked ahead of him, and his expression softened slightly. "OH, HEY YOU'RE UP!" he yelled down the hallway, wiping blood off his cheek... blood that almost certainly wasn't his.

He was gripping a strong steel bat with his other hand, swinging it at his side casually...

Kirigiri didn't reply, holding her fist behind her as Ishida walked closer and closer.

"You alright?" Ishida said, laughing a little. He was suspiciously cheerful, yet his eyes looked wet with tears... Kirigiri could see pain in his eyes, obviously, as if he wasn't even trying to hide it. His left eye seemed to be more disgusting than the previous day...

Kirigiri clasped her hands to her mouth, feeling as if she would puke, but held it in...

Ishida looked straight into her eyes. "Uh... Kirigiri-kun?" He raised one of his thick eyebrows.

The lilac haired girl came out from behind the door, her arms in front of her defensively. "Tell me what you mean by useful, and if you come a _step_ closer to me-" She was cut off by Ishida placing his hand on her shoulder "Alright, let's go!"

He grabbed hold of her hand, despite Kirigiri trying to hit him for this, and walked at a ridiculous pace towards the stairs, not checking to make sure Kirigiri was ok as she panted, still exhausted, her head pounding. He didn't seem to notice much, perhaps he wasn't very observant... Kirigiri thought she could use this to her advantage somehow... it was always useful to know more information about your enemy.

Ishida suddenly stopped for a second, so abruptly that Kirigiri almost walked into him. He crouched on the ground, clawing at his eye with his hand, his teeth suddenly gritted, his face pale and his eyes pouring with a strange mixture of smoke and tears...


	12. Chapter 11

Kirigiri stopped next to Ishida, and felt herself glaring slightly...  
Why couldn't he just suck it up and show her what he'd been trying to?! It was beyond infuriating!  
But... he did seem to be hurt...  
After all, the eye looked painfully red...and... quite frankly revolting.

Kirigiri sighed and looked away, holding her hand to her mouth again so not to gag. "What is it?" she said in a dry tone.

Ishida made a few soft cringing noises, before standing up again, his hand still over his eye. "N-nothin'..." he grinned unnaturally wide as he spoke, to mask the fact he was in an amazing amount of pain... his head was spinning, and smoke still poured from his eyes, along with a waterfall of tears.  
He growled, and rubbed at his eyes furiously to stop the tears, but that just caused him more pain...

Kirigiri shot Ishida a mild look of concern as he fell to his knees again. If he ended up leaving it any longer...

The purple haired sleuth sighed heavily, and looked down at Ishida bitterly... no... she couldn't feel bad for this boy...  
He'd killed everyone in the school but her...  
And Ishimaru, the boy that occupied Ishida's body previously, was long gone at this stage.

Ishida got up again, and laughed coldly, not growling at the same time as he usually did... the laugh seemed emotionless, dry, devoid of meaning. "Let's go again!" he said, attempting to raise his arm to salute Kirigiri and only managing to give a lazy kind of wave.

Kirigiri knew he was in pain, but chose to ignore this.

If Ishida could get her to the "helpful" thing, then nothing mattered. She would have done what she wanted to do,  
Naegi's death would mean _something..._

 _It would all mean **something.**_

Ishida quickly grabbed hold of Kirigiri's hand again, and started walking forwards, stumbling as he did so.

He felt sick, and like something heavy was being pushed down on his shoulders, causing him to gasp as he walked, his head spinning. His eye was spitting out blood like a sprinkler, and caused Kirigiri to feel like she was going to be sick again.

She stopped and stood in front of Ishida, who gave her a confused expression.

"We need to get bandages on that eye, I can't stand the sight of it any longer." Kirigiri said clearly, staring up at Ishida with a distinct look of disgust.

Ishida stepped back a little "A-and what makes ya think I'm gonna allow that to happen?!" he growled slightly, and looked nervous, almost embarrassed.

Kirigiri just glared at Ishida, trying to act as if she wasn't moving unless he covered it up... in reality she was terrified of the consequences of her actions... she wasn't sure if there _would_ be any... but if there was no telling with this guy. She swallowed hard, still staring at Ishida coldly, her shoulder stiff... she was trying not to let herself tremble.

Ishida appeared to sigh. "Look I'll jus' cover it up with my hand... no big problem!" he put his hand to his eye, cringing at the pain. "S-see?" he said, tears streaming down his cheeks as he did so. It hurt more than Kirigiri could have ever imagined, but since Ishida wasn't about to admit defeat, he shook his head, and grabbed Kirigiri's hand again with his other hand, walking forwards and down the hall.

It was at that moment that Kirigiri realised...

She had never once seen Ishida's left eye blink.  
It was always open and left so it wasn't hard to see how grotesque his injuries were. Kirigiri wasn't sure if this was intentional, or if the pain was too intense for Ishida to close his eye... but it seemed more medically sound that it should be closed from the pain instead. It didn't make much sense, but then again, neither did many things about Ishida. First of all, he was an albino... this would be perfectly acceptable in itself, except his body before he came into control wasn't. Secondly, his fire engulfed eyes were both dangerous and impossible, and seemed to rage and calm down with Ishida's emotions. Thirdly there was his existence.

That was one mystery that Kirigiri would have to ask this weirdo about... but perhaps not now. If she tried to interrogate this psychopath in the state he was currently in he could snap and attempt to attack her... if she was lucky. Kirigiri knew it would most likely result in her death before she found out a single thing from Ishida, after all, he seemed ruthless enough to do such a thing. Although if he was prepared to murder her as Kirigiri presumed, then why did this nonchalant albino insist on keeping her alive for so long?

The composed girl took a deep breath, before looking ahead, speaking a few words to herself. "Why is the eye open..." she mumbled, trying to theorise on why this happened.

Ishida looked at her for a second, and raised one eyebrow, before chuckling dryly, no growl, like before. "Oh, ya mean this!" he shuffled his hand on top of his left eye, having not moved it from when Kirigiri told him to cover it up. The tall boy growled slightly in general frustration, "Well... eyelid burned off, ok?" he seemed kind of annoyed that Kirigiri wouldn't stop talking about the eye, starting to glare a little.

This caused Kirigiri to look away more, as if to drop the subject.  
No, she wasn't going to die _just_ yet. She needed the information before she could even consider taking any kind of action, or putting herself in danger...  
But part of her was just really curious about this... and the other part of her was really sleepy and not thinking straight, so what ended up coming out of her mouth was just:  
"H-how come your other eye is... alright...?"

Ishida kept his hand pressed to his eye. "Well, this one was a lil screwed up, y'know?" he smirked "Other one's not as damaged, so s'alright." He sighed as he spoke, seeming remarkably calm all of a sudden... it was slightly unsettling, coming from the guy that had just killed all of Kirigiri's fellow students.

Kirigiri just nodded sleepily, and started walking again, attempting to prize her hand away from Ishida's. She failed this, feeling his grip was remarkably tight. This was probably due to the extreme pain he was experiencing. This was perfectly normal, and Kirigiri was kind of surprised at this semi-normal reaction to pain from someone so abnormal.

She supposed he probably wasn't even **_human_** at his core.


	13. Chapter 12

Eventually, after some stopping and staring, Ishida cringing at his eye, Kirigiri being repulsed, and various other occurances, they reached the hallway outside the school's science lab.  
Ishida paused. "Alrighty..." he mumbled, before leading the now fairly tired Kirigiri into the room. "'ere we are, Kirigiri-kun!" he smiled awkwardly, putting his fists in the air in triumph, before hearing a groan from Kirigiri and remembering his eye, clamping a bloody hand back over it. "Uh... victory?" he growl-laughed, seeming genuinely happy he was even at the location that would supposedly be of help to his new ally.

Kirigiri looked around. "So what is it?" she said, her eyes drooping as she spoke.  
Ishida let go of her hand and Kirigiri gestured to the machinery in front of her in vague confusion, as if to ask why they were even there in the first place.  
Ishida looked at Kirigiri and rolled his eyes, sighing. She was obviously exhausted... but it couldn't be helped. After all, this was more important at the current time.

Ishida looked around, seeming as confused as Kirigiri was.

The purple haired detective followed him around, sighing. "I _said_ 'what is it?'"  
Ishida proceeded to look around more. "Uhh, well thing is... I can't really remember what it is...!" he seemed slightly annoyed " But I just _know_ somethin' important is 'ere though!"

Kirigiri stared at Ishida.  
So all of this was based off a **_feeling_**?!  
In that case there was no guarantee of information... there was no guarantee that the death of her friend had been... at all meaningful.  
She felt a lump in her throat, but ignored it, making herself feel sick to her stomach once more. If she puked again she would appear weak... and this guy that called himself _ **"Ishida"**_ certainly wasn't someone she was happy about showing weakness to.

Ishida took no notice of how upset Kirigiri seemed, continuing to search. He snickered slightly. "Y'know, when I said I kinda remembered somethin', I was sorta hopin' I'd remember a little more by the time we got here... but ah hell..." he leaned against a control board casually, as if he didn't care about the consequences of these actions one bit.

Kirigiri looked at Ishida for a second, before gagging again, realising Ishida had once again forgotten to cover his now extremely red and twitching eye.  
Ishida clamped his hand back over, this time it making a small splashing noise as he slapped his hand down.  
This only made Kirigiri gag again, and Ishida sighed, feeling blood dribble down his sweating hand. He felt as though the blood swirling around his eye was boiling, bubbling, trying to ooze its way out through the gaps between his fingers. It was succeeding in this now and again, only making Ishida have to fight back tears more.  
He looked as if he could either burst into tears or stab someone any second...either one was about as likely at this point.

Kirigiri cleared her throat, to act as if her gagging was only a cough, and turned to the machinery next to the control panel Ishida was leaning on. She walked closer, running her hand over the cold metal surface of the control panel, yet trying her best to keep her distance from the murderer next to her. Kirigiri felt her eyes droop again, and almost allowed her hand to go limp and press one of the buttons...

Ishida noticed this and almost jumped up to stop her from doing anything, instead sort of losing his footing, tripping and falling forwards, his arm leaning further on the panel.

Both students heard a few strange beeping noise. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Ishida yelled, and heard the machine in front of them making whirring and sparking noises, rattling as it shook, or rather vibrated.  
The white haired boy grabbed hold of Kirigiri's shoulders and ran behind her, as if attempting to hide from what had just happened. "W-WAIT I-" He picked up Kirigiri, who was too tired to protest at this point, and jumped towards the machine, putting one hand on it, ignoring his eye.

Kirigiri's eyes opened wide "HUH?!" she looked at Ishida in horror, before everything went black.


	14. Chapter 13

Ishida opened his eyes, still clinging on tightly to where he was holding Kirigiri, against his chest.

Kirigiri, of course, was nowhere to be seen. In fact... Ishida couldn't move his arms...  
He looked down at his body...  
There was a worn straightjacket around him, his arms restrained, his arms felt sore and bruised... he was sitting on the floor.

Ishida looked around and saw a very familiar scene before him. It was his own bedroom... or rather _**His**_ bedroom. It was obnoxiously tidy, the walls a pure white, the carpet on the floor pristine, every shelf free of dust, every book and folder in its exact place. Everything was absurdly perfect... it was almost cringe-worthy.  
Ishida suddenly realised his situation.

He was in a _**straightjacket  
**_ and _**alone.  
**_

 _ **ALONE**_

It made him suddenly feel sick, his eyes welling up with tears... he couldn't even feel his own skin around him, he felt numb all over, yet overly emotional, as if he couldn't control a thing... weak... lifeless...  
A voice in someone's head.  
That was all _**Ishida**_ was...

Ishida suddenly looked around some more... why did he feel so... detached from himself? He managed to stand up, and walked over to the window... he could see his reflection in the glass.

Red eyes,black hair, no strange shark-like teeth.

Perhaps the reason he felt so detached... was because he wasn't in his own body... he just stared out the window, trying not to let his emotions and confusion get the better of him.  
Suddenly he could feel something behind him, hear voices, feel his entire world crumbling with emotion. Ishida couldn't hold in his tears anymore, and let them drip down his cheeks like a stream of cloudy, red tinted river water... he didn't turn around... he knew exactly what was happening.

" _I DIDN'T ASK TO EXSIST!"  
_ His own voice could he heard yelling behind him.

"Whenever _**you**_ turn up, Kiyotaka's mental condition becomes worse and worse!"

Ishida clenched his fists by his sides... before turning around. It was exactly as he expected... he could remember _everything_ now.  
The scene in front of him... he'd heard of peoples lives "flashing before their eyes"... but this was more a cruel relaying of events he didn't want to think about. This was, of course, all in his head...  
But why did everything play before him so fast... so seamlessly...  
It was like watching a scene from a really badly acted sitcom, except the problem presented was real... and it made him feel sick to remember it.

" _I CAN'T HELP IT!"_

 _"_ You always manage to get someone _**hurt**_."

" _STOP IT!"_

"Why did you have to turn up... you _**ruined**_ him..."

Ishida dropped to his knees, watching this horrific display... he screamed at the top of his lungs, in unison with his other self.

 **" _PLEASE... LEAVE ME ALONE!"_**

"You **_possessed_** him"

" _ **I'M NOT SOME KIND OF DEMON**_... _I-I'm... I'm a..."_

"A **_human_**? That's the one thing you _**aren't**_!"

"..."

"We both know you're more of a **_disease_** than anything."

"..."

"You only live to destroy the mental state of others... you're not Kiyotaka."

"..."

"You're nothing more than a malicious virus, a parasite."

" _I-I'm more than that... I-I swear..."_

"You're just a voice in Kiyotaka's head."

" _Then kill me."_

"If you would stop possessing him... then quite gladly."

Ishida felt more tears pouring from his eyes...

" _But... I'm not... human... but I'm..._ " His voice paused for a second, a sharp echo lingering in the air like a heavy smoke, rising to the ceiling. Ishida wasn't quite sure what he was... but he was certain he existed... or perhaps he was just... insane. Perhaps this was all in his head... perhaps he _**was**_ human... perhaps he was just a disease in a poor boy's brain... perhaps he meant something to someone... somewhere...  
or perhaps he was just someone very ignorable... very boring... very sickening. He was sure of one thing, he had ruined lives just by speaking. He had destroyed psyches by blinking... he had killed his classmates.  
And most importantly, at the end of it all... Hopes Peak was all his fault.

" _I'M **ME**_!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, growling threateningly at the blurred figure in front of him...

And after that, everything faded to black again.

* * *

After around an hour, Ishida found himself back in his body again... or rather, his host body...  
He looked at his reflection in the window's glass again.  
"Yer lookin' pretty messed up, Ishida!" he said to himself, sighing.  
Red eyes, white hair, flames, shark-like teeth. Ishida felt his eyes fill with tears again "I-I'm ** _me_**... ain't that right?"

He wasn't sure what to do now... or what he even _could_ do at this point. "If ya could'a just let the poor guy go..." he kept staring at himself in the reflection. He began trying to imitate Mondo's voice, his face wet with salty tears, his eyes welling up more and more. "If ya ever figured out how... ya might not be so hated, right buddy?" He couldn't stop crying.

"Maybe if ya didn't exist, he wouldn't be so messed up, right old friend?" Ishida continued to imitate Mondo's voice through his tears, attempting to smile somehow. "Right... Brother?"  
Ishida looked away from the window... he couldn't even begin to figure anything out at this point. "Yer right..." he went back into his usual voice "B-but t-then again... ya always are!" he burst out crying again, growling at his own immaturity.

He started to imitate Ishimaru's voice. "That's right... _big brother_..."


	15. Chapter 14

Kirigiri blinked a couple of times, and felt herself shaking softly, a whirring sound could be heard all around her. Was all that some horrific dream? It certainly wasn't above Kirigiri to have strange or disturbing dreams, and it wasn't unheard of for someone to sleep on _public transport._

Yes, Kirigiri was sitting on the bus. She brought up a shaking arm, and looked at her watch... strangely the arm hurt, as if heavily bruised...  
It was 5:30AM.  
Kirigiri wasn't at all sure where she was going, but at this hour imagined that it must be an emergency... but, if it was such an emergency that she was going by something as unreliable as **_public transport_** _,_ and not by car, or by something a little more trustworthy and always on time... then it couldn't have been that important. Emergency or no emergency, Kirigiri was too tired to deal with it.

Why _was_ she so tired... if all that was a dream, then she had just been sleeping... and if she had just been sleeping...  
Kirigiri prodded her arm with her fingers, and felt a sharp pain, cringing. She sighed deeply, and looked to the side of her, leaning towards the window. It was pitch black outside, no sign of any psychopathic albinos... no fire... no glowing red eyes... no loud voices, except for that of the bus driver occasionally telling a kid or two to shut up.  
She heard a voice beside her. "Hey, Kyouko!" it was the voice of a man, a voice she recognised well.

Kirigiri sighed. "Yes father?"

"Do you remember, we were going to meet that boy in the neighbourhood today..."

Kirigiri shook her head... her fathers voice sounded distorted, almost as if playing on an old radio...

"He really wanted to see you... it's a bit late for that now..."

Kirigiri just continued to stare out the window... she knew that if she turned around nobody would be there... or if there _was_ someone there...

"His name was Ishimaru Kiyotaka if I remember correctly..."

Kirigiri froze, but just let out a loud, exasperated sigh... so **_he_** was the neighbour she never spoke to. She chuckled slightly to herself, albeit dryly... she was beginning to refer to Ishimaru as Ishida did... with only pronouns and vague indications.  
She sighed again... she wasn't sure what any of this was, but it all felt unreal... it made her feel slightly sick. It wasn't the kind of violent sickness she had felt when she was around Ishida... but a kind of strange lingering nausea, the kind of sick feeling you could never quite put your finger on before it was too late to do anything...  
In a way it was worse than uncontrollable gagging, or vicious anxiety.  
Oh what was Kirigiri even thinking at this point?!

"He kept calling himself something different on the phone though... Ishida or something. Maybe it's a nickname, Kyouko!" Her father laughed slightly, a crackling sound around the air, as if the radio that was playing her fathers voice was picking up static. "Maybe if you do go and see him, you should use it... it'll really show how much you pay attention to things!"

Kirigiri sighed... and suddenly, she could hear her own voice. She tensed up... wait... did her father really just say...

" _I have no interest in socialising with others, you should know that."_

"Aw, Kyouko don't be like that! I'm sure he'll be very nice!"

" _I'm only saying that if I am not **required**_ _to speak to him, I will spend my time on research."_

 _"_ Ishida?" Kirigiri said, making the memories blur and fade away with her words, shaking her head to clear her mind. She didn't have time for silly memories... even if they were of her father...  
She looked to her side, as if expecting the strange boy in her dream to just appear out of thin air next to her...  
It didn't seem unlike him to do something like that...  
But what did Kirigiri know about someone she had only met once... someone who probably wasn't even real?

She shook her head again "All just a dream." she mumbled... perhaps she was still sleeping right now. Kirigiri wasn't sure, but she decided to believe she was at least mostly awake at the minute. Having anxiety dreams about things you were going to do was perfectly normal... and after all, she had been hoping to make it to Hopes Peak Academy for a while. Everything felt so real that she could barely trust her own judgement however... "It's all a dream, only a dream..." she continued to mumble.

"Are you ok, miss?" A kind and calm voice sounded itself from the seat across the other side of the bus. It was the voice of a boy, and a voice Kirigiri recognised well...  
Not another memory...

Kirigiri looked up to see her good friend Naegi Makoto, a kind brown haired boy, the same as in her dreams... or rather, her long insufferable nightmare.

The boy continued to look quizzically at Kirigiri, who was just staring up at him with emotional indifference.  
She was so confused...  
If that was all a dream, then why were all these people so familiar...? Surely all these people couldn't be the same as in her dream?  
Kirigiri looked down at her lap. "Naegi-kun?"

Naegi tilted his head slightly "Hmm? Do I know you?" he said in a friendly yet slightly concerned tone.  
He was so oblivious, having no idea of the events to come... Kirigiri felt a pit in her stomach. If her time at Hopes Peak was all a dream... all in her imagination... then why was Makoto Naegi, the boy she stabbed, right before her? She had never met him before Hopes Peak... so it wasn't like she had somehow integrated this boy into her dream from a chance meeting...  
And she certainly knew his name.

Kirigiri felt her eyes welling up with tears, looking at Naegi.  
There was no way that was a dream. Everything was very real...  
But where was Ishida? The last time she had seen him, he was clinging onto her in fear of the strange whirring machine in the school science lab.

She let the tears roll down her cheeks.


	16. Chapter 15

Ishida yawned, walking around **_his_** room. "Ok, ok, ok... plans... plans..." he was pacing back and forth, still in the straightjacket.  
"Oh I got somethin'!"  
The white haired boy kicked once or twice on the door to get the attention of Ishimaru's father. He then tried his best to imitate Ishimaru's voice... Ishida had lots of practise with this, after all, his voice was all Ishida could hear most of the time. Despite his own voice being harsher and louder, accompanied by his frequent growling, he managed this well.

"Father? Did it happen again?" he said in an innocent tone, backing away from the door to allow access.

Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs, and Ishida stared at the doorknob, waiting for it to twist around... he held his breath.  
The doorknob jolted to the side, and someone could be heard clearing their throat on the other side of the door.  
"Kiyotaka?"

"Yes?" Ishida said, trying his best not to slip out of his innocent tone. He sighed slightly, looking around for something to hit Takaaki with. He had to rely on his instincts for this... he envied animals that had been born with certain survival skills... he had none, except for being able to kill fast and easily.  
This wasn't particularly helpful in the current situation. After all, Ishida didn't want to **_kill_** Takaaki... he just needed to get him out of the way somehow...  
Ishida couldn't see a thing that would be helpful for what he needed... naturally there were no needles, syringes, ropes, or any kind of possibly dangerous chemicals around... so he had to rely on an already used technique.

The door was opened with a soft clicking noise, and before Ishida knew it he was jumping forward, teeth bared, his eye flames spitting and crackling.  
Takaaki looked at Ishida in horror, before being thrust to the ground by the boy in front of him.

Takaaki pushed Ishida off and stared into his left eye, a look of pain on his face. "W-what... what did you do to him?!"  
Tears could be seen forming in his eyes, and he looked genuinely terrified.

Ishida backed away a couple of steps, shaking his head. "He did it to himself... I-I think..." He felt sweat dripping down his neck, he was scarily nervous...  
Why weren't things going as planned? Perhaps it was because Ishida didn't really have a plan in the first place... but he definitely wasn't expecting this...

"I _**said**_ what did you do to him?!" Takaai began to look more panicked every second, causing Ishida to back away more.  
Ishida kept shaking his head, feeling blood dribble from this eye and down his ghostly pale cheek.

"Why can't you just go away?!" Takaai started to shout louder and lose his composed nature to his emotions... something that scared Ishida greatly... seeing others experiencing extreme stress or emotion always made it harder to breathe... harder to get things done.  
"I-I told you... it wasn't my doin'!" Ishida also began to raise his voice, backing away more... he started to growl, as if trying to threaten Takaaki to step back.

The man only stepped forwards more. "Give him back!" he yelled, tears streaming down his face. He jumped on Ishida, pushing him to the ground and glaring into his eyes threateningly.  
Ishida felt more blood coming from his left eye.

Ishida stared at Takaaki in horror, before sighing heavily. "I..."

"I said **_give Kiyotaka back_**!"

"I CAN'T!" Ishida screamed, baring his sharp teeth and snarling at Takaaki, having no other option now than to try and scare him into not killing him...

"GIVE HIM BACK!" Takaaki was in tears at this point, and a few droplets of salty water dripped down onto Ishida, who felt a shiver course down his spine.

Ishida growled loudly again, before lunging forwards, biting the back of Takaaki's neck while he was leaning over him...  
The man went stiff almost immediately, and fell on top of Ishida, who pushed him to the side carefully. Ishida checked his pulse.

As expected, he wasn't dead. Ishida had purposefully hit a pressure point and caused him to pass out, but unless there was any internal bleeding from the impact, then Takaaki would most likely be ok...  
"I'm sorry..." Ishida stood up, trying not to look at the figure lying on the floor before him. For some reason... Ishida felt unsafe leaving him alive...  
It wasn't the fact that he could easily search for Ishida, have him killed, or try to destroy him...

It was the fact that Ishida was now completely alone...

Ishida felt himself starting to cry again, and rolled his eyes. "Y-yer such a cry baby, ain'tcha?" he mumbled to himself, replying to this statement by a swift nod as he walked out of the room.


	17. Chapter 16

Kirigiri got off at the next stop, trying to drown her thoughts by pushing her headphones on, playing mildly upbeat things...  
If that wasn't a dream... then how did Kirigiri get here? Where was the psycho she had been with? Why was Naegi still alive? Nothing made any sense...  
Kirigiri couldn't stop her eyes from welling up as she walked down the road, the air crisp and cold. She could see her breath in the air as she exhaled... it was bitterly cold.

She pulled her gloves tighter around her hands, and winced as she felt her arm ache at lifting it...  
She felt so scared...  
So alone...  
So...  
Lost.

Kirigiri had no destination in particular at this point, aimlessly wandering. Of course she knew this would only cause more trouble for her in the long run, but didn't care...  
This time, her destination was simply "Away from here".  
It was childish, and didn't even make much sense, and Kirigiri knew that... but somehow it gave her a tiny bit of hope.

Hope that something... someone... would help her.  
In situations like these, there was always a solution to any problem... she just needed to figure out what the problem **_was_**. She had so many questions she needed answers to, but being the only one experiencing this horrific confusion nobody could answer them for her... everyone seemed to be oblivious...  
Kirigiri feared she was going insane.

Now of course, part of her was hoping that someone wonderful would turn up to sweep her off her feet and tell her it was all going to be ok... but that was almost as childish as her aimless wandering.

She could do the last part herself...  
Kirigiri started to mumble to herself again, feeling her eyes getting hotter, her face wet with tears. "E-everything... will be... ok, Kyouko..." she forced herself to smile, although felt herself frowning the second she stopped. "Everything will be... ok..." She started shaking as she spoke... of course it sounded fake coming from herself, but somehow she liked to convince herself that this kind of thing was reassuring... despite not even believing that.

Kirigiri looked ahead of her, and saw two faint red lights in the distance. She expected they were probably from a car, or a motorcycle, and took no notice, continuing to walk, her breathing becoming heavier with every step she took.

The lights appeared to get slightly closer, and Kirigiri started walking closer to the grass on the passway to avoid getting hit in the dark... after all, she wasn't exactly in high visibility gear...  
She began to hear the faint sound of footsteps on the pavement, and looked behind her.  
There was nobody there... yet the lights continued to get closer, appearing brighter and brighter as they did.

Kirigiri started to feel a little nervous... if she was mugged in this light whoever was doing it would probably get away without much trouble... she wasn't carrying any serious weapons, and wasn't prepared for combat in her current state either... an easy target. She was now walking under a bridge... it became even darker as the moonlight was obscured... the perfect place.

The lights got brighter and brighter, and Kirigiri eventually resorted to looking down at the pavement as she walked, walking quicker and quicker as she felt her stomach turning...anything could happen at this point... **_anything_**...  
Kirigiri walked so fast her legs ached, almost breaking into a run before she bumped into something... or rather, some ** _one_**.

She stepped back in shock and looked at the figure in front of her, spitting out a small "M-My apologies..." before seeing the two piercing red lights right in front of her. She stepped back again. "No, no, no..." she gritted her teeth.  
This was _not_ how she planned to die...

In front of her was a tall boy, holding a knife in his teeth that was only just visible... the only other thing she could see of him was the two shining lights, which looked like fire in the darkness...

"K-Kirigiri-kun?" The boy mumbled through the knife handle, looking down at Kirigiri.

Kirigiri stared at him, a look of terror in her eyes. "Ishida?"  
This was it... this would be her death... Kirigiri just knew it.  
So she ran, past the boy, out from under the bridge, and out into the moonlight. She gasped, trying her best to keep running.  
"Don't turn around, don't turn around, don't turn around Kyouko!" She said to herself as she ran, tears from her face dripping off and onto the ground.

In her panick, she didn't notice the pavement becoming more uneven, and tripped falling onto the ground with a loud " ** _KA-THUNK!_** "  
Kirigiri managed to turn onto her back, but when she tried to get up her arm gave way, causing her to recoil in pain, and collapse with her back on the pavement.

The boy stood over her, and in the moonlight Kirigiri could see Ishida slightly more clearly now.  
It was definitely him...

"Uh... I'd help ya up, but y'know, I kinda got a problem of my own 'ere..." his voice was still muffled by the knife, but unmistakably his. Ishida looked down at the straightjacket, and then looked down at the knife in his teeth.

Kirigiri stared up at Ishida with wide eyes. "W-what..." She could feel herself shaking. "I-Ishida?!"  
He was real... everything was real...  
what was going on?!  
Kirigiri managed to stand up after a few seconds of wincing and hoping Ishida wouldn't take this opportunity to kill her.

Ishida nodded "Mhmm..." he looked at the knife again, and bent down slightly for Kirigiri to be able to take it from him.  
In this light Kirigiri could see his eye clearly when she was so close, and she placed one hand over her mouth, turning her attention to his one working eye instead. She brought her arm up, still shaking, and took the knife from Ishida.

"Ugh!" She almost dropped the knife in surprise when she realised that the handle was dripping wet. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, and wiped across the handle, shivering slightly.  
Well, she was never using _**that**_ handkerchief again...

Ishida raised one eyebrow, and spoke clearly this time now that the knife was gone. "What do ya expect? I was holdin' it in my mouth for an awful long time!" he growled slightly.  
Kirigiri just sighed, discarding the handkerchief on the ground, and holding the knife in her hand. She looked up at Ishida.

"As ya can see, I can't really get outta this myself..." He looked at the straightjacket. Kirigiri had barely noticed in her exhausted state until now, so looked slightly shocked.  
Nevertheless, she walked behind Ishida, and with a sharp swing of the knife, stabbed into the back of the straightjacket. She sighed...  
The knife he had was really blunt...  
Even if he had planned to use it for attacking Kirigiri, it would take a long time, and be horribly messy. He would be caught way more easily with such an ill suited weapon... but there was no telling if Ishida had enough sense to know that.

Ishida flinched as Kirigiri hacked mercilessly at the material "A-ay, easy!" he growled slightly, seeming nervous.

Kirigiri continued to cut through the straightjacket with reckless abandon. She wasn't quite sure why she was helping Ishida... but she knew he could always attack her without using his arms... like what happened to poor Aoi. So giving him a certain amount of freedom wasn't really changing much.

When Ishida was finally cut free, he pulled off the straightjacket, feeling his arms aching. "A-ah... thanks." he smiled awkwardly, turning around to Kirigiri, who stepped back again nervously.  
This caused Ishida to look a little sad...

Kirigiri stared up at Ishida weakly... she appeared lifeless and exhausted, unable to resist any kind of attack... she felt her eyelids droop...

Ishida noticed this, and stepped forward to Kirigiri,hesitantly throwing his arms around her in the most reassuring way he could. He wasn't very good at seeming non-threatening, but was at least going to try his best somehow... He felt his eyes filling with tears again. "I-I'm so scared... what the hell is going on...?!" He whimpered, holding Kirigiri close to him. He chuckled softly despite his crying "R-right?"

But at that point, Kirigiri has already passed out from exhaustion.


	18. Chapter 17

Ishida sighed heavily, growling to himself in quiet frustration.  
Now he had a new problem... where did he go now? He had no idea where Kirigiri lived, and wasn't about to just go back to **_His_** house... after all, Takaaki was still alive.  
So Ishida was stuck in early morning, in the dark, outside in the cold, lost, with a girl leaning on him and fast asleep.

"Well, this is just _fantastic_..." Ishida rolled his wet eyes, and groaned.  
He picked up Kirigiri and pushed her onto his back, holding onto her legs and leaning forwards slightly so she didn't slip off.  
Ishida decided to try and ask Kirigiri where her house was... it was unlikely she would provide a useful answer when she was this out of it, but like most things up until that moment, it was worth a try.

"Ay, Kirigiri-kun, where's yer house?" Ishida raised his voice slightly as he said this, in the hopes that Kirigiri would hear him.

Kirigiri only replied to this by groaning slightly in her sleep, nuzzling more against Ishida's back as he carried her.  
She was so warm now...

Ishida sighed. "ADDRESS!" he growled in an attempt to get the sleeping girl's attention.  
He felt kind of bad... he might have woken her up...

Kirigiri mumbled something, nuzzling against Ishida's back still. "N...n-No.18..." she sighed, her eyes still closed. She certainly hadn't woken up in the slightest... that was good at least.

Wait..."No.18"... that made no sense! Ishida needed more information than that... like what town for a start!

"Wait... like what town?" Ishida sighed as he spoke, starting to feel tired himself. After all, he was awake all night when they were back in the school... and he tended to forget the limitations of having a physical form...  
Humans seemed to get tired really quickly.

He received no reply, no groan, no mumbling, nothing.

Ishida looked around... he knew that they weren't that far from his house... so they were definitely somewhere.  
He walked to the light of a streetlamp, and surveyed the line of houses before him.  
If Kirigiri wasn't going to give him a full answer then he could try any "No.18" he saw, until he found the right one, or Kirigiri woke up, whichever came first. He could probably find Kirigiri's house keys in her pockets somewhere, and if not, someone was probably in the house at this time anyway...  
He wasn't sure how he would explain to anyone there everything that had happened, but if it came to it, Ishida would have to.

Wait... if Kirigiri had been so vague... just telling Ishida the house number... did that mean she meant she lived the town they were currently in?

"Alright, little miss confidential... let's try this..." he muttered, walking down the road.

It really was dark, and Ishida really wasn't sure how he was going to be able to see the writing on the door to know the number...  
He sighed, and pulled one of his hands away from Kirigiri, supporting her by leaning forwards again. He poked his working eye slightly, and brought the arm backwards again, flinching a little.  
"Ack!"

Luckily this did the trick. His eye flames glowed blue in the darkness, and Ishida could see a few inches in front of him at least.  
Like built in flashlights! At least being a walking fire hazard was good for something... even if it wasn't all that convenient all round.  
"No.18..." he muttered, feeling his left eye throb as it was engulfed in flames.

Ishida felt more and more tired with every step he took. "Ugh, if this ain't the right town I'm gonna be so ticked off..."  
He heard Kirigiri groan quietly, and decided to try his best to be quiet from now on... he didn't want her to wake up and run away again.  
"That'd just be annoying at this point..." He whispered to himself as quietly as he could.  
After nearly an hour of searching in the dark, he finally came to a blue door with a metal plate on it. "No.18"

He pulled Kirigiri off his back carefully, and placed her next to the door so Ishida could look through her pockets. He was kind of scared that the purple haired girl would wake up as he did this... after all, it looked an awful lot like he was trying to rob her.  
In fact, if _**anyone**_ saw him doing this it would cause some trouble... Ishida wasn't exactly the least generally suspicious person in the world, more the opposite really, so he wouldn't have been surprised if someone had seen him doing this and called the police immediately.  
Ishida sighed as he pushed his hand into Kirigiri's jacket pocket, looking for the house keys.

Kirigiri looked a little irritated in her sleep, and grumbled quietly... she appeared to be shaking.  
Well, it _**was**_ cold... Ishida was the only person strangely unaffected. Perhaps it was because he was essentially a heater with legs... the fire around his eyes was mostly responsible for this fact.  
He sighed, finding the keys and pulling them out from Kirigiri's pocket. "This better work..." he mumbled, turning to the door.

Ishida pushed the key into the lock, and took a deep breath before turning it.  
To his surprise this was the right house! Perfect!  
He kicked the door open and picked up Kirigiri again, who seemed happier once he did, obviously warmer than when she was on the ground. Ishida proceeded to walk through the door, pushing it shut with his foot behind him. "Anyone 'ere?" he whispered into the dark room.

Ishida received no reply as he walked in further, flicking on the light switch. "What the hell..."

Either Kirigiri lived alone, or her family were really bad at hearing intruders... He wasn't exactly going out of his way to sneak in stealthily...  
The albino boy put Kirigiri down on the couch, exhausted, and flopped next to her. If someone found out he was there, it didn't matter... if Takaaki went looking for him, he certainly wouldn't expect Ishida to hide this close to his own house... so things would hopefully be alright.  
He leaned back next to Kirigiri, and closed his eyes. "What a day, right?" he chuckled dryly.


	19. Chapter 18

When Kirigiri finally came to, she was sitting on the couch in her home...  
Wait... was all _**that**_ a dream then?!  
She sighed, and closed her eyes again, rolling over.

Kirigiri's eyes flicked open when she felt something next to her... and looked up slightly. She felt her entire body freeze with fear as she stared at the albino boy next to her, and started to shake...  
It was something Kirigiri wouldn't ordinarily do, but in this case, she was quite scared. This was understandable however, as this wasn't exactly something that happened every day.

A murderer in the same room as a detective, but no conflict.  
It was all quite ironic.

Kirigiri was just holding her breath, praying to whoever might be listening that Ishida wouldn't wake up before she could escape... or at least piece together what was going on. She shuffled away from him a little.

All that the lilac haired girl knew was that she had fainted shortly after meeting Ishida again.  
She shivered slightly... now that she had tried to move away from Ishida she felt quite cold. Come to think of it, it was most likely **_winter_**... so this was no surprise.  
Kirigiri lived alone, so of course nobody could have turned on the central heating or anything in the house... unless Ishida did, but Kirigiri thought that was unlikely, considering he seemed to be a bit of a clutz.  
He would probably manage to break something somehow.

Ishida seemed to notice the shivering even in his sleep, and tilted himself sideways slightly, wrapping his arms around Kirigiri, much to the latters dismay.  
Kirigiri's eyes widened when she realised the source of the warmth she was feeling before...  
It was Ishida.  
Kirigiri sighed. Of course it was him... after all, the boy had fire around his eyes...  
it made no sense, but somehow seemed more logical than everything else in this situation.

Kirigiri freed herself from Ishida's grasp, and got up, leaving the white haired psycho to flop sideways on the couch now that he was no longer leaning on her.  
It was almost comical, and the shivering girl let out a faint giggle, before returning to her thinking.  
Wait... if she passed out when she was outside, that meant this guy...

"C-carried me in..." she mumbled quietly, pulling her gloves tighter over her hands, before staring at Ishida with a cold gaze.  
She really didn't understand him at all.  
But in some ways this was interesting.  
After all, sometimes the best kinds of mysteries came in the form of people... even if those people weren't human... or sane...  
or at all approachable.

Kirigiri sighed heavily.  
Ishida's eye was still exposed, and looked as if it had been bleeding more since the last time she'd seen it, most likely in the boy's sleep, or while he was carrying Kirigiri.  
"Perhaps..." she whispered to herself, before walking off to try and find a first aid kit. If she could at least cover the grotesque wound up...

Kirigiri walked down the hallway, rubbing her hands down her arms in an attempt to warm herself up, and of course failing. She would need to get a blanket or something for that to happen, but continued this practise anyway.  
She returned to the living room a few minutes later with a roll of bandages in her hand.  
The girls amethyst eyes shimmered as the light of the room shone into them, and she carefully edged closer to Ishida, hoping he wouldn't wake up still.  
Wait what was she doing?!  
The wise thing to do at this point would be to run... run as far away from here as possible... from **_him_**.  
But somehow she felt like she should stay...  
as if her soul was bound to the house, not allowing her spirit to stray from the door.  
Maybe it was just because Kirigiri wanted answers... maybe it was because somehow she was scared to be alone...  
maybe it was just because...  
she wasn't sure what to do.

This was a feeling very unfamiliar to Kirigiri, and made her feel as if backed into a corner...  
She hated to admit it, but there was no doubt that she would have to ask Ishida for his...  
Cooperation in all of this.  
Even if she was only going to kill him at the end of it all...  
Even if...  
Things could never be changed again.

As Ishimaru used to say...  
Anything could be achieved through hard work and effort...  
and even though Kirigiri felt like nothing could be fixed, she was certainly not giving up just yet.

Who knew... maybe this Ishida guy was even on her side...  
Kirigiri shook her head.  
"Don't be ridiculous." she mumbled to herself as she began to wrap the bandages around his head to cover his eye.


End file.
